China copper scrap dropped 41% in Oct

Looking ahead to next week (September 11-September 17) for copper wire and cable enterprise operations, end-user clients are inclined to wait for a slight rebound in copper prices before making just-in-time procurement to avoid downside price risks. SMM expects the operating rate of copper wire and cable enterprises to edge down 0.3 percentage points WoW to 63.41% next week, down 2.43 percentage points YoY. If copper prices see a slight rebound, the operating rate could come in better than current expectations, and copper price movements warrant close tracking going forward.

This week (September 4-September 10), the operating rate of SMM copper wire and cable enterprises came in at 63.71%, down 2.93 percentage points WoW and down 3.91 percentage points YoY. During the week, copper prices fluctuated at highs overall, continuing to suppress downstream order releases. On the inventory side, high copper prices weakened wire and cable enterprises' willingness to stockpile raw materials, with days of raw material inventories down 2.93% WoW. Weak end-use demand and insufficient willingness to pick up goods drove days of finished product inventories up 2.63% WoW.

According to SMM, buying activity in the wire and cable market showed a clear divergence between upstream and downstream today. Although copper prices moved lower intraday, absolute price levels remained in a high range. Combined with generally weak downstream consumption, end-user wait-and-see sentiment was strong, and no batch orders were released. To avoid the risk of further price declines, end-users mostly waited for a slight rebound in copper prices before placing just-in-time orders. In contrast to the wait-and-see stance of end-user procurement, wire and cable producers were more active in restocking raw materials today. In early trading, multiple wire and cable factories placed pricing orders at intraday lows, bought copper raw materials on dips, and moderately replenished production inventories.